


Treading Water in the Wishing Well

by wutthequiznack (birbsandemidogs04)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-27 20:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15032594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birbsandemidogs04/pseuds/wutthequiznack
Summary: "Hey, there, gorgeous," Lance was looking past Keith, shooting finger guns. With a sigh Keith moved out of the way so whichever poor alien he was flirting with could be in his line of sight.But then Keith turned and saw there was nobody behind him. He looked back at Lance and saw him staring back. "Uh, were you talking to me?""Yeah, babe - your body's banging!"Keith blushed in confusion. "What?"Why was Lance flirting with him now?(Plot twist: the poor alien was actually Keith)





	1. Falling, in too deep

"The lovebug, adequately named," Pidge was saying, "is an exotic beetle that can cause its victim to experience all the hormones that are released when one is in love, thereby stimulating an intense affection." 

"And this is important, why?" Keith couldn't help but question, his arms crossed. They were on a planet in the far reaches of the galaxy on a mission to create alliances among the "people" there. Keith was steadily growing more and more annoyed at how long it was taking to meet such people, as the sooner they did, the sooner they'd all be able to leave. 

"Apparently they're all over this planet," Pidge replied. She shrugged. "I guess we should be on the lookout for them, I dunno, in case you get bitten?" 

"Yeah, but they shouldn't be able to bite us in our suits, should they?" fretted Hunk. He looked down at his shiny yellow paladin suit, which was built pretty sturdily. 

Again Pidge shrugged. "You'd be surprised what aliens can do." 

"Well, the ladies won't have to be bitten by one of those suckers," Lance put in, leaning on Hunk's shoulder. "They'll take one look at me and fall right in love." 

Keith rolled his eyes. Lance was such a douchebag sometimes. He couldn't tell that Keith was standing right there? It was almost as if he were doing it deliberately. 

He grunted under his breath and turned away. This was going to be a long mission. 

\--

The aliens turned out to be very shy, tiny creatures that resembled lizards a bit, and the paladins had to lean down to catch what they were saying. This didn't prohibit them from having a successful, peaceful mission during which they made sure they had allied themselves with the aliens - well, more Shiro than anyone else, as Pidge was sidetracked by their tiny technology, Hunk was sampling some mini desserts and offering critiques upon how to improve, Lance was flirting with them and Keith was sulking. 

Really, Keith didn't know how Lance could be flirting with these aliens. It was true that he flirted with anything that stood, but these aliens looked like reptiles. It was weird to the point of being annoying. 

He turned away from Lance, who was flirting with a pink-coloured alien a ways away and paying Keith absolutely no mind. Keith felt hurt deep inside - it was like Lance only paid attention to him when he was making fun, or teasing him, or goading him on and driving him crazy. Never did Lance ever interact with him in a friendly way, per se. Keith would even be happy with a simple tolerance, or at least for Lance to not point out his every flaw and fault and make him feel even more out of place among the paladins. Keith wanted to get to know Lance. This hurt. 

The muffled, "ow!" from Lance's direction barely made Keith turn around. He suspected he'd been slapped by one of the aliens, and it served him right. 

He turned for his curiosity and met Lance's eyes. He was staring at him - or something behind him. 

Then suddenly that stupid, goofy, beautiful smirk appeared. 

"Hey, there, gorgeous," Lance was looking past Keith, shooting finger guns. With a sigh Keith moved out of the way so whichever poor alien he was flirting with could be in his line of sight. 

But then Keith turned and saw there was nobody behind him. He looked back at Lance and saw him staring back. "Uh, were you talking to me?" 

"Yeah, babe - your body's banging!" 

Keith blushed in confusion. "What?"

Why was Lance flirting with *him* now?

Lance moved closer, his arm coming out to sling across Keith's shoulders and pull him closer. Keith could feel heat radiating around his body. He tried to push Lance away, though his heart wasn't in it. 

"Have you forgotten who you're talking to?" Keith asked, a little frightened, feeling Lance's grip on his shoulder. 

"Nah. You're the sexy red paladin, Keith. Mi amor. Or, you should be."  
He grinned, effectively reducing Keith to a pile of blushing mush. 

Finding some control, Keith placed both hands against the blue paladin's chest and pushed him gently away. "We've gotta get you some help. You are so going to regret this when you figure out what you're doing."

\--

He brought Lance to Pidge first. 

"Pidge, there's something wrong with Lance," 

Pidge looked up from a tiny computer she held in one small hand, looking annoyed that she had been interrupted. "Isn't there always?" 

"No, there's something really wrong with him," Keith snapped. He had Lance by the shirt collar and thrust him forward with a snap of his wrist, showing him to the green paladin. "He's flirting with me." 

"Like it rough, huh, babe?" Lance was murmuring. He eyed Keith as if he were a chocolate sundae that was his to devour. 

Pidge made a disgusted face. "Ugh, did not need to witness that." 

Keith stared at her expectantly. "So? What the heck is wrong with him?" 

"It's the love bug, probably," Pidge mused. "He must have gotten bitten and then looked at you." 

Keith's gaze then landed on Lance, who was still staring at him like he was one of those extremely hot girls he flirted with. His face turned warm of its own accord, though he felt a bit disappointed Lance was only acting this way because of a glorified love potion. He turned to Pidge, frowning. "Why me?" 

"I dunno. I guess it happens that the first person they look at, they fall in love with. I'm not too familiar with these aliens yet." Pidge explained. 

At that moment Shiro and Hunk joined them. Shiro clapped a hand to Keith's back before stopping short as he caught sight of Lance, who was still gazing at Keith. 

"Uhm, Keith? What's going on here?" he questioned authoritatively. 

Hunk came around, his eyes darting back and forth between Keith and Lance in confusion. "Yeah... Why is Lance looking at you like that?"

"He got bitten by a love bug, so now he's in love with Keith," Pidge elaborated. 

A laugh burst out of Hunk. "Ha, really?"  
Then when Keith didn't laugh with him, his expression dropped. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously." Keith replied. 

Lance's hands were clutching at his hips now, needy and burning through his uniform. Keith inhaled sharply as he moved them up to a safe zone. 

Shiro looked at Lance in concern. "Is there anything we can do to get rid of the effects?" 

"I don't know," Pidge confessed. She scratched her head as she thumbed through the tiny computer. "They don't have much on this database." 

"Then ask the people," Hunk offered. "I'm sure they've had this problem a long time." 

So Shiro turned away and peered down at a lizard running by. "Excuse me…" he started to say, but all of this faded away from Keith when Lance began to gently kiss his neck. He breathed heavier, his face flushing harder. 

"Wh-what are you doing?" he gasped. "Stop that." 

Lance only chuckled. The sound vibrated from his lips and into Keith's skin, causing him to roll his neck at the tickle. "Eres lindo cuando te sonrojas," Lance murmured, so soft Keith almost didn't catch it, and then still didn't catch it because he understood no Spanish. It was hot though, that was for sure. He'd forgotten Lance was Cuban. 

Suddenly he didn't want Lance to fall out of love with him. 

"Hey, Keith!" Shiro's shouts drew him abruptly out of his thoughts, and Keith shoved Lance away, curling his neck against his shoulder.  
"I think I found an antidote!" 

Keith sighed. "Great."  
His gaze dropped as he followed it to Shiro's open hand. There was a small bottle in it. 

"Here. Have Lance drink the whole thing, then apparently he'll be cured." Shiro was saying. 

"Yeah. Thanks." Keith returned. He squeezed Lance's bicep, which had him straightening up with a glint in his eye. 

"You gonna take me to the ball, my Prince?" he asked. Keith had no idea what he was talking about, but he was practically purring now and Keith was dying. 

Once again he ignored Lance's flirtations and took the vial from Shiro. "All of it?" he asked. 

"Yeah, I think so." Shiro said. He was looking at him curiously now. "Is there something wrong, Keith?" 

"Wrong?" Keith sputtered. "Wh-why would you think something's wrong?"

"It's just… you've been a bit off," Shiro said. "Does it have something to do with Lance being bitten?" 

"Well, I mean, Lance is in love with me right now." Keith pointed out to disguise his reaction. "It's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me."

Lance's head leaned against Keith's shoulder then. "Mm, weird in a good way?" he murmured.

"Weird because you always say I'm your rival." Keith replied before he could stop himself. 

Shiro was looking at him in concern, but also like he knew what Keith meant. "I'm sorry, Keith. Just… have him drink the vial. It's really not up to us whether he turns back to normal or not." 

Keith sighed, nodding. "Right."  
He knew Lance would probably hate this situation and want to be out of it as soon as possible, because there was no way in hell that he liked Keith.

He turned to Lance, something breaking inside of him, and inhaled deeply. "Lance, drink this." he said, holding out the vial. 

Lance clung to his arm, studying the vial with glazed eyes. "What is it?"

"Just drink it, okay?" Keith pressed. His voice had broken. "For me?" 

"Anything for you, babe." Lance said after awhile, shrugging. 

Keith looked down as Lance tipped back the vial. He was well aware that Pidge, Hunk and Shiro were all staring at him in curiosity, probably lingering to see the effects of the potion. 

He looked back at Lance, who had taken the whole thing and was now focusing again. His arms were still tightly wrapped around Keith's. Keith got a second more of the contact before Lance was pushing him violently away. 

"Wh-what the quiznack, man!!" he screamed. Keith stumbled before he found his footing, and faced him reluctantly. "What was that?"

"You were bitten by a love bug," Pidge put in from behind him. "You kind of fell in love with Keith." 

Lance's eyes narrowed in alarm. "What?!" 

"But, you know, maybe it wasn't all the love bug that made you act that way." Hunk interjected cryptically.  
Everyone turned to face him. Keith's heart raced. 

"What do you mean?" Shiro asked. 

Hunk's expression was smug and bright. "I was talking to some of the locals, and I found a scientist. He told me that the love bug only enhances effects that are already there, hence why Lance… acted like that." 

There was a beat of silence as nobody spoke, and then Pidge asked the impossible, true question. "So does that mean that Lance--"

Before she could finish, Lance scrambled to speak. "Ah! Are you kidding! No! I-I don't- didn't- there's no way--"

Keith's heart felt as if it would leap out of his chest. "Lance, are you- do you like me?" 

That was impossible. Lance hated him. Or at least he acted like it. 

Lance rounded on him. "No, I don't!"  
His voice was reaching a disturbingly high pitch. "Hunk, your scientist is a liar. I never- never liked Keith!" 

Hunk shrugged. "Sorry, man. He looked awfully qualified." 

Pidge was smirking too. "Oh, man, Hunk, you owe me twenty bucks." 

"Aw, shoot, you're right." cursed Hunk. 

"You took bets?!" Lance shrieked. "Why would you ever think that I in a million years, would ever-" 

"Because you're freaking out now," Pidge pointed out. She was now twenty dollars richer and happy about it, as she had made this bet as soon as Lance had recognized Keith outside the Garrison from his mullet alone.

She looked the two over now, and clapped Hunk on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's go see more of their tech."  
They moved away from Keith and Lance, and Shiro followed after a few seconds, leaving the two completely isolated together. 

Keith hesitated in looking at Lance. His face burned with shame and regret. He was feeling all sorts of things, but happiness was not one of them.  
"Lance, I - it's okay if you don't like me. I get it. Not a lot of people like me that much."  
It was hard for him to get out, but he had to.  
"I'm sorry the thing bit you." 

"What - what did I do? To you, I mean?" Lance asked awkwardly. His face was pink. "I didn't - kiss you, did I?" 

"No," Keith said shortly. "You didn't. You just held onto my arm and -"  
He blushed, remembering the words Lance had said. "Said something to me in Spanish." 

"Oh, quiznack," Lance moaned. "Do you remember what it was?" 

"Um."  
Keith looked at the ground, wracking his brains. "Something like 'lindo… uhm… son-ro has'?" 

Lance was silent for a few seconds. "I'm guessing I said you're cute when you blush." 

"Oh." said Keith. "Okay." 

He turned to go away from Lance. He'd had enough awkwardness for one day, and wanted to get out of this unrequited situation. He could manage his crush for awhile, just like he had when it had first started. It was no big deal.

If he could just get inside the red lion, he'd be safe. 

But then he felt a tug on his arm. Looking back, he saw that Lance had caught hold of him. 

"Yeah?" he asked shakily. 

Lance looked confused, as if he didn't know why he had grabbed him. "Uhm, look, man. I don't hate you, per se."

"But don't you always say we're--" 

"Rivals, yeah. I dunno, you're my teammate now. I can't hate you." Lance admitted. 

Keith stared at him. "So, was the scientist right? Or-"

"I don't know. I mean, I like you as a friend."

Keith smiled. That was quite enough for him for now. "You do?"

Lance's gaze was less uncertain now, and he grimaced a small smile. "Yeah."  
He frowned a little, looking Keith in the eyes. "Why, do you like me like that?" 

Keith gaped. How was he supposed to answer that? "I-" he started, about to plunge himself into the cold waters of confession, when Shiro called them over. 

"C'mon, guys! We have to get back to the Castle of Lions!" 

Keith looked over at Shiro and yanked himself out of Lance's grasp in the process. He didn't turn back to see if he was following. His legs had a mind of their own. 

\--


	2. make something out of nothing

Keith was actually smiling. Red's energy pulsed through him, bathed him in that familiar warm magenta light. The comms were buzzing with Pidge and Hunk's excited chatter about the aliens and their technology and food, while Keith, Shiro and Lance (surprisingly) remained silent. It felt like an unexpectedly nice end to a weird day. Keith was smiling. He was glad the lions couldn't talk, but he was sure Red could feel the happiness he was feeling. He liked Lance so much, it was enough that he even considered him a friend. It would still be awkward, yeah, but at least they wouldn't bicker so much anymore. Hopefully. 

Heaven forbid he took up their last conversation again. 

Remembering that pause before Shiro had called to them made Keith's smile falter. 

He tightened his grip on the controls and steeled himself in steering the lion with the others back to the Castle of Lions. 

Hopefully Lance wouldn't bring it up again. 

\--

Lance's brain was overcome with thoughts, busy like traffic. Mostly it was staticky and hard to make out one from another but for the most part he distinguished some fuzzy memories of Keith in his arms. Keith had been warm, he remembered, warm and… oddly yielding. And Lance had a strange faint taste of strawberries on his lips. Strawberries and sweat. That was weird. Salty strawberries. Huh. Maybe it was some of that local alien food. 

Keith had been going to say something to Lance -- whether he liked him or not. He was kind of nervous to know the answer. If the answer was no, they could just get on with their lives and forget this had ever happened. If it was yes, well… Lance gritted his teeth and abandoned that train of thought. 

They should just get back to the Castle now. 

\--

The Castle's atmosphere was no different to Lance, who now couldn't look at Keith without peculiarly breaking into a sweat that left him breathless. He tried to scrutinize the princess and focus on her breathtaking beauty, but even she was falling on blind eyes. He stalked past Keith so as not to look at him, slumping on the couch in the lounge in defeat. 

"What's wrong with me?" he murmured. 

The mice gathered around him quickly, their ears twitching as if they had sensed him on the brink of telling a secret. He simply scooped them into his arms, leaning back against the plush. 

"Hey, guys. Only interested in me having a mental breakdown, huh?" 

The slight mouse with red eyes seemed to nod. Its expression displayed a smug serenity that made Lance smile in spite of himself. "Yeah. Well. Here it is." 

At that moment footsteps hit the floor behind him. He scrambled, frightened, and the mice fell out of his lap and onto the floor. They glared up at him angrily, but Lance had already turned to see who was there. 

It was Shiro, looking tired and worried. "Hey, Lance. You alright? You kind of ran off earlier." 

Lance eyed him as he made to sit down near the younger paladin. "Yeah. I'm okay."   
Could he tell Shiro his concerns? He was his hero, after all, and seemed like a trustworthy guy. But Keith was also a brother to him, so it would be weird talking about him outright. 

He hesitated. 

"Lance? If you're feeling uncomfortable, that's okay. We don't have to talk about anything." 

Lance found Shiro's eyes again and, seeing a familiar weariness in them he began to speak. 

"Can I give you a hypothetical situation?" 

Shiro nodded, somewhat taken aback. "Sure. Would this entail me giving you advice?" 

"Let's just say it's for a friend," Lance dismissed. "Say there's this… person you know. All your life, they've been better than you. At like, everything."

Shiro was nodding like he understood. "At school?" 

"Yeah, sure."   
That wouldn't give anything major away. "And you kind of start to hate them? But not really, I guess. Like you're just really jealous. And then as you get older, that person gets like insanely hot, and you start to like-like them, and then you realize you're in deep crap because you're supposed to hate them?" 

Shiro was hiding a badly-disguised smirk behind his Galra hand. "Okay." 

Lance was too far gone now to care if he knew who he was talking about.   
"And so you try to keep pretending that you hate them but it's getting hard. And then you find out they might actually like you back? What do you do? Like, you don't know for sure this person likes you but you also don't know they don't, so…" 

"Hmm. I think I would advise your friend to go with their gut," Shiro said finally, with a smile. "If they feel they get a clear indication that this person likes them back, then try to hint that you like the person too. Unless you don't want to enter into a relationship with that person. Just take your time. Test the waters. Patience yields focus." 

Lance considered this. It was pretty sound advice, sort of like advice he might get from his mamá. And that was always great advice. He gave Shiro a brief, tired smile. 

"Thanks, Shiro. I think that'll really help." 

"Yeah, don't mention it," Shiro said, getting up from the couch. "I hope it helps your friend." 

"Oh. Yeah. My friend."  
Lance thought of Keith and felt warm around the collar. This, he couldn't help. 

With a pat to his shoulder, Shiro left him to himself. 

\--

Keith couldn't help but notice Lance's avoidance of him as soon as they got back to the Castle of Lions. 

Though it hurt him somewhat, it also gave him a deep-rooted sense of relief. This way he wouldn't have to confront his feelings head-on. Hopefully, not ever. 

He could deal with his feelings by himself and then they'd go away someday. The key word was "someday". For now, he'd have to train to get his mind away from his body. 

Despite having just come back from another planet, Keith raced to the training deck and changed out of his paladin suit in favour of his usual black shirt, leggings and white boots. Training always cleared his mind and conscience. Throwing himself into a battle with an emotionless robot never failed to give him a sense of relief from everyday stresses that came with being not only a teenager, but also a paladin of Voltron. 

It was here, sweaty and panting some time later, that Lance found him.

\--

If there was anywhere Lance could find Keith at any given time in the Castle of Lions, it was on the training deck. 

He, himself hadn't even bothered to change out of his paladin suit, but as he entered the room he observed that Keith had changed back into his usual outfit, and probably the only outfit he had on hand - a basic black t-shirt and black skin-tight jeans (or were they leggings?) and of course, his white go-go boots. Currently Keith was sparring with a droid, grunting a bit from effort and flicking sweat all over the place from his glistening face and drenched fringe. He couldn't help but stare a little in quiet admiration of the way Keith's muscles showed through his shirt and how the tightness of his pants enhanced the exposure of his --

No. He couldn't. 

Right now Keith was in the heat of battle and had no idea Lance was watching him. 

Until Lance called to him. 

\--

"Hey - uh, Keith,"

Keith was drawn out of his sparring match when Lance called to him from the doorway of the training deck. He looked over, simultaneously feeling dread and happiness at his appearance. Was he going to confront him about their conversation earlier? 

He rubbed the sweat out of his eyes and called off the attacks just as the robot was gearing up to charge at him. 

"Uh, can I talk to you for a sec?"

With a straining in his heart Keith nodded. "Sure. Do you want to go to the lounge?"

Lance was coming over to him. "No, here's fine."

It must be important, Keith thought, if he wants to talk here. 

The both of them sat down on the polished white floors a little ways from the discarded drone. Keith looked Lance over, a familiar fluttering in his heart that he resented.   
"So what's going on?"  
He was tempted to ask whether or not it was serious, but some part of him already knew the answer was yes. 

Lance crossed his legs and stared down at the floor between them, his hands braced against his thighs. "Look. We need to talk about what happened earlier."

Though he was expecting some sort of confrontation, Keith was genuinely surprised that Lance would want to discuss the lovebug bite. This was coming from a guy who had refused to acknowledge remembering the bonding moment the two had had, which he'd clearly had a recollection of. Keith didn't know what this could possibly mean other than the overwhelming probability that it connoted something bad. He was probably going to turn Keith down. Terrified and having no desire to stick around, Keith watched Lance for cues. 

"Yeah?"

Lance glanced at him now. "I need to know."

"Need to know what?"   
Keith knew exactly what he was talking about. Beating around the bush would only buy him time. 

"You know what I mean, Kogane." Lance went on, mild annoyance tinging his words. "Do you like me?"

This was it. It was truly now or never. Keith could admit that he did like Lance and suffer the consequences forever, or he could say no and brush off any possibility that Lance might like him back. It was a risk he'd have to take, because if he were honest with himself, the burden of truth was eating him up inside. His gaze had fallen to the floor in the few seconds he had given himself for thought. He looked back up at Lance now. 

To suffer embarrassment at the hands of him would be hell. 

"Yeah. I do." he said finally.

His gaze took in the way Lance's jaw dropped when he admitted this as he tried to ignore his own cheeks burning. He touched a hand to each one and found that they were hot. His hands strayed down to his bayard -- he clutched it like a lifeline, the only thing rooting him to something that didn't cause him this much grief. Why was it that adolescent feelings were so much harder to deal with than the heat of battle? 

"Well?"   
The silence was growing stifling, annoying. "Aren't you going to say something?"

Lance closed his mouth. "Like, like-like me?" he stammered. 

If Keith were more hopeful, he would have noticed the faint blush dotting Lance's cheeks. 

"Look, I don't know how or why it happened, okay? I'm not sure I even want to like you like that. I guess I thought that maybe I had a chance-" Keith started impulsively, feeling as if he had to create an excuse or explain himself, as if this were something that could be explained away like a science. Love was more complex than Keith ever could have known. 

"Keith, man. Shut up." 

Keith stopped talking abruptly, shocked. 

"I think I like-like you too?" Lance continued. 

Keith shook his head. "No. No, please don't-- I know you don't mean it. If you're tricking me, Lance, it's not funny."

"That's the thing! I'm not! I don't know if that lovebug did something to me, or if I felt it all alone deep down, but I feel something for you now."   
Lance's eyes were pleading, pleading with Keith to understand. For his part, Keith was silent but receptive. 

"It wasn't my choice, either. Heck, I was crushing on Allura."

Keith stared. "What?"  
This was new to him. All this time he'd thought Lance was only attracted to the princess, and sure, it had left him desolately jealous, but he'd always maintained hope that Allura would never like Lance back. He'd never considered that Lance's feelings were that strong. 

But he'd said "was". 

"Forget I said that."   
Lance was looking at the ground again. Keith surprised himself by letting one of his hands fall on Lance's shoulder, forcing him to look at him again. 

"Lance, what are you saying?"

"Quiznack, didn't you hear anything I said?" Lance cried. "I like you! LIKE LIKE you!"

Keith froze. Nothing in the world could have ever prepared him for an utterance of those words, especially not from Lance. His hand tightened its grip on the blue paladin's shoulder completely subconsciously. "You do?" he mumbled. He wasn't seeing straight. He wasn't seeing at all. Lance became blurred around the edges. 

"Yeah. I swear I'm not making it up. I realised that I do like you."

"Am I your first guy crush?"   
The words fell out before Keith could stop them, and he began to grin after they came out. He couldn't help it -- he was grinning like a maniac. 

Lance's eyes narrowed and he turned away, embarrassed. "No. Maybe."

Keith only chuckled, and let silence fall between them again. It was awkward now. Keith didn't know if he were permitted to do what he wanted to do. Besides, he had never had this type of thing happen to him -- a confession, or even really feelings as powerful as the ones he had for Lance -- and he was majorly lacking in romantic experience. But it was alright, because he had a feeling Lance didn't have much experience either. 

He reached across and touched Lance's hand for the time being, a silent request. Lance didn't look at him as he yielded, bringing their two hands together in a soft union, fingers fitted together like a puzzle. 

It made Keith feel whole. Especially when Lance glanced at him meekly and gave him a tired smile, a smile that screamed as much relief as slumped shoulders. 

Yeah, they could figure this out. The two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who needs to study for a Law final when you can write fanfictions right???
> 
> i think this takes priority.


	3. Bonus -- i'm making my own history

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wants to know why he tastes strawberries on his lips.

Lance was awkward about making it known that things were official between he and Keith now. He still didn't know if they were indeed officially together. What made a relationship official? A kiss? Holding hands like they had done? Hugging? Honestly the thought of doing anything other than holding hands with Keith right now made Lance shiver internally.

During the next few days he could try to play it off, as if he and Keith would maintain the same teasing relationship in public or on the castleship and everything would be the same, except now they were a couple. Were they even a couple? Did admitting you liked someone who liked you back make you a couple? Lance didn't even know if he still felt something for Allura. Was it possible to have a crush on two different people at the same time?

Amidst his happiness and relief, he was confused and disoriented. Everything he'd thought he once knew was now in turmoil, in fluctuation. He didn't know his own sexuality anymore. He'd thought he was straight, and he did like girls, could admire a good-looking woman (or alien) and flirt, manage a smirk and finger guns, and he liked that about himself. But Keith did things to him that made him think maybe he liked both girls _and_ guys. He felt the same way about Keith that he did about girls, only he knew now he couldn't charm Keith like he did with girls. He knew Keith too well at this point. Plus, Keith would never buy it.

After their moment on the training deck, Keith and Lance made their way back out to the main deck together. Their hands were still subconsciously intertwined, as if they couldn't let go. The feeling of holding Keith's hand was comforting and yet made Lance feel such turbulent emotions that he walked a bit too fast down the halls. All the times they'd held hands before had been different, had _felt_ different. Before, sure, Keith's hand had felt warm and anchoring, but now, knowing he liked him, that little bit of contact made Lance's heart soar. He could remember holding onto Keith's waist before, and felt his face burn. He wondered if he could get away with doing it again now.

He looked behind him at Keith as they stalked down the halls, slowing his pace slightly. He was taller and thereby had longer legs, which would make it harder for Keith to catch up and would probably make Keith irritated beyond belief.

"You good back there, mullet?" Lance asked, smirking at the usage of the old nickname.

Keith glared at him as he caught up, and Lance was pulled closer to him with one yank on their intertwined hands. "Barely. Why were you going so fast?"

Lance shrugged. "You're just shorter, so you have to overcompensate. I wasn't going fast at all."

Keith seemed to huff like he always did whenever he were giving in, letting go of the fight because he knew it wouldn't get him anywhere. From his breath Lance caught a whiff of strawberries -- not artificial strawberries, but the real ones, the ones he had eaten and relished at home in Cuba with sugar drizzled over them and sweet juice at the bottom of the bowl that tasted like nectar. He was caught breathless for a second -- they were the strawberries he had tasted back in his lion. That scent had just come from Keith. 

He started to sniff, getting closer to Keith's exposed neck and feeling a prickling warmth spread through his whole body. 

"Lance--? What are you--" Keith started, but Lance pushed a finger up and onto his lips. They were soft, crushed against his touch. Surprisingly soft and warm. Wet from sweat. Lance shushed him for extra measure. They were dating now, weren't they? Didn't that mean he could push the boundaries? 

The finger that was still on Keith's lips was moved by Keith, cupped in his own hand and cradled away from his face. "Are you -- smelling me? Because if you're hoping to smell something good, I'm afraid I only smell like sweat--"

"You smell like strawberries," Lance murmured. He looked up at Keith from his view under his face -- he had bent his knees and he hadn't even noticed. The thought made him smile. 

"What?"

Keith looked thoroughly confused. "What does that--"

"When I was in my lion earlier, I thought I could taste something like salty strawberries in my mouth," Lance continued, cutting him off. "I thought maybe I was tasting some alien food, or maybe that I was going crazy, but that wasn't it. I tasted something that tasted like strawberries. You smell like strawberries, and you're sweating right now."

Keith tilted his head. "Are you saying you want to taste me to see if I taste like salty strawberries?"

Lance grinned. "Unless you're too scared."

Though he would never admit it, he was scared stiff. Scared, intrigued, excited -- teenage emotions swirled inside his mind and body at the thought of kissing and  _tasting_ Keith,  _quiznack._ The trouble he was in. 

"You, er, you did kiss my neck a little while you were under the influence," Keith said after awhile. He voiced it more like a question than a statement, as if he were unsure how Lance would react. 

With good reason. 

"What?!" Lance cried. His eye twitched. Even though he had figured it out superficially, the admission still came as a shock to him. "Why didn't you tell me this when I asked you if I had kissed you?"

Keith's cheeks were brilliantly red. His gaze was intense. "Well, would you tell me?" 

Lance thought about it. Keith, lovesick, kissing his neck, caressing his middle -- "Nah, probably not."

With that said, he leaned in sideways and pressed his lips to Keith's skin, immediately opening his mouth more to taste him. His first thought was that he'd been right -- Keith did taste like strawberries. Subsequently he was ambushed by a wave of other thoughts, many intense  _holy quiznack_ s or  _dios mio_ s, or  _wow, his skin's soft._ They had come to a halt now and the lights of the hall were dimmer around them -- but Lance's hearing was enhanced. He could hear Keith's sharp intakes of breath perfectly, could tell when they became ragged as the puffs hitched in his throat, could  _feel_ Keith hitching around his lips. Keith was saying nothing, but then his hands came up to grip Lance's shoulders and hold him there, and Lance could tell Keith liked it. 

Hesitantly and slowly he licked the skin -- it was so warm and sweaty and should have tasted gross and felt weird but Lance could only savour the strawberries, wondering how on earth Keith could conjure up that essence. "Do you use strawberry body wash, or something?" he found himself murmuring.

Keith actually laughed, probably at the sensation. "The castle has some good shampoo," he replied. He made his voice even quieter than Lance's. At any moment the rest of the paladins could burst into the hallway and discover them. There would be no way out of that. 

In response, and because Lance had already taken a liking to Keith's skin, he began to kiss his way down to Keith's collarbone. He had never fully appreciated the shade of Keith's skin, how much it contrasted his own. His eyes were closed now anyway -- he couldn't see it, but he could feel it, and taste it, and that was enough.

Keith's grip on him tightened. His breath was even shallower now. "Lance... we--" 

It was almost as if he were confused. Flustered and confused but oh-so open to going further. 

Lance's lips left Keith's neck, met by only cold, empty air. He peered up at Keith and rose to his full height, then tilted his head downward. He had no idea what he was doing when he told him with a smirk, " _Eres lindo cuando te sonrojas,_ _"_

What Keith did next Lance was both expecting and totally not ready for. 

He stared at him for a moment, then wrapped his arms around Lance's shoulders and pulled him in, hard. 

_Oh._

They were--  _OH._

Keith's lips were so hot against Lance's -- feverish, frantic. Kissing him was -- so different. It felt so different. Keith kissed as if they were running out of time. Like the castle was haunted again, or they were on a mission, and he wasn't sure they would survive. It felt like one of those dramatic, confession kisses Lance observed and had been obsessed with at one point, on telanovelas his tias used to watch. 

His shock wore off and blossomed into deep longing as something bloomed inside him for Keith, because Keith had acted impulsively in kissing him and now he was hanging there, unsure, but his lips were red hot and Lance would be  _damned_ if he didn't turn this into something salvageable. 

His eyes closed. He placed his hands carefully on Keith's waist, finding it heaving from breaths of exertion, and pulled him even closer in. Keith stuttered a bit at first but then moved with fluidity, his mouth awakening at the same time as his feet. This was so different and so awkward, but so good and real. Their mouths fitted together again and again -- they moved as a team, yielding when the other would move and it felt _so natural._ And Keith brought his hands to Lance's hair and nearly pulled it out and his bayard fell with a clatter to the floor but Lance barely heard it, barely noticed it until Keith gasped in his arms and broke away from him.

It was so un-Keith-like to be all flustered. Nervous. Bright red, like he was now. Keith bent to pick up his bayard and gave Lance a half-smile as he cleared his throat. "So, er, does my mouth taste like strawberries?"

"No," Lance decided. He curled a hand in his hair awkwardly. "It tastes good, though."

Keith's half-smile became a whole-smile, and he tugged at Lance's arm. "C'mon. We should probably join the others." Yet the glint in his eye was telling Lance a different story. 

Lance realised something in those short few ticks.

He realised strawberries were home. So Keith was home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bonus chapter is up! Hope you guys enjoy my feeble attempt to make klance canon. Or is it thunderpike now?? Anyway...
> 
> Thank you guys SM for all the positive feedback!! Reading all your comments makes me feel so accomplished and amazing, I'm glad you all liked reading it as much as I liked writing it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! We're all still recovering from s6 right? I know I am. :/
> 
> I suck at titles, so I took this from a line of Hayley Kiyoko's "Rich Youth". I love her and her songs so much.
> 
> Hope this was enjoyed!


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